Monday, November 22, 2010

JC's Take: WWE Survivor Series Review

Hello everyone! Welcome back for my review of WWE Survivor Series. Let's get right to it!

But first let me give a shout out to my friend Kevin, or K-Rob as we call him for sitting through his first full WWE event last night!

Daniel Bryan defeated Ted DiBiase Jr. to retain the United States Title (***)

Another great opening match from Daniel Bryan. The guy can just go out there and almost walk his way through a three star match. He's a great technical wrestler, and his different look and style is getting over with the fans. He has a very aggressive in-ring style that is different from anyone else in the WWE today. Ted DiBiase Jr. also put forth a good effort in this match, but his character is still lacking something. People just don't seem to care about his "Son of the Million Dollar Man" persona. The problem is, by using the DiBiase name, he's stuck with it. Him and Maryse just don't seem to be clicking at all. But the two went out there and put on a great opening match that got the crowd into it, which was their job. Expect a rematch down the line. Hopefully in early 2011 Bryan breaks away from the opening match routine and gets possibly a bigger push towards the main event by the middle of the year.

-After the match, The Miz attacked Daniel Bryan on the stage and then came out and ripped on Miami, specifically the Miami Heat. That made him bad to the live crowd, but probably cheered by everyone else watching. He said it was no longer a matter of if, but when he will cash in his MITB Briefcase. I guess the point of this promo was two-fold: to get Miz on the PPV, and hint at a potential cash-in later in the show. The cash-in never happened, so it seemed like a bit of a waste.

John Morrison defeated Sheamus (***)

Another solid match, where it may seemed surprisng to some that Morrison went over. The two had some good chemistry going in the ring. Sheamus is currently prooving that he deserves to be in the spot where he is, and he isn't just there because HHH likes him. Sure it helped, but he's more than shown that he belongs at the top of the WWE for years to come. Morrison had some good offense going, and I was shocked that the ending came when it did. I was expecting Morrison to at least hit "Starship Pain" to get the victory, but instead he just won with a kick and flying knee to the head. I'm sure Sheamus will get his revenge soon enough, so it was nice to see Morrison getting a win here. He should be in line for a nice babyface push down the line. I still think he's better off as a heel, but I wouldn't have Miz and Morrison as heels again on the same show. But expect Morrison to get a main event push in 2011.

Dolph Ziggler defeated Kaval to retain the Intercontinental Title (**3/4)

A nice solid, athletic match between these two. Kaval showed that despite his losing streak on Smackdown, he is more than capable of handling himself in the ring with top competitiion. I still think storyline wise, it was dumb to use his guaranteed title shot on the IC Title, but if it was a way for him to show he belonged then it worked. The near fall exchanges at the end added some excitement to the match, and Ziggler won with a quick roll-up and a slight grab of the tights. I do like how Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero sold how close they were to losing after the match. Small stuff like that just adds to it for me.

I don't get why Vince McMahon has a problem with these matches, as I thought it was pretty entertaining. The promo by the heel team before the match was also pretty good. Jack Swagger stood out before and during the match. I think the WWE was trying to throw out the idea of a potential face turn for him down the line. It was surprising to see MVP get eliminated so early considering the PPV was in his hometown of Miami, but for some reason the WWE likes to humiliate people in their hometown. Alberto del Rio was protected here by getting knocked out by the Big Show, so he can use the excuse of not getting eliminated in the match. I think the wrong team went over, as I much rather would have seen del Rio come out as the sole survivor. But this is PG, so we know that they need to make the kids happy. But it was still an entertaining match, with Swagger standing out the most to me.

Natalya defated Laycool to win the Unified Divas Championship (*1/4)

I was really surprsied to see Laycool drop the titles here. I guess they're pushing to the eventual break-up of the group, with a match between the two down the line. But either way, it was nice to see Natalya finally get the win. I guess it throws something different into the division. Natalya was saved from a Laycool beatdown by Beth Phoenix after the match. I guess the positive coming from this match is that there seems to be a nice shake-up in the Women's Division.﻿

Kane and Edge fought to a tie/no contest, which resulted in Kane retaining the World Title (**1/4)

Ugh, this match was just way to slow and boring for a World Title Match. The problem is Edge has been a heel for so long that he is still adapting to working as a face. His first face run earlier in the year was proof of that. It also seems that Kane just can't put on quality matches anymore, unless he is with the Undertaker. And even those are just ok at best. The match ended in a No Contest becuase after Edge speared Kane and went for the win, he pinned Kane with his shoulders on the mat as well as Kane's. So since both men's shoulders were on the mat, both were counted to three. Those are wrestling rules folks. Kane also continuously asking Edge where Paul Bearer was took away from the match. Why is Kane allowed to call hsi dad Paul? That's disrespectful to me. Anyways, expect a rematch at TLC.

This was nothing more than a filler match between the two main events. Santino actually looked ok in the match. It just seemed like a way to get the rest of the Nexus on since they were banned from ringside during the WWE Title match. Gabriel continues to look like a potential star down the line once Nexus is done, but that still seems like a ways away.

Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett with John Cena as Special Referee to retain the WWE Title, which results in John Cena being fired from the WWE (**1/2)

I'll cover the in-ring action first. I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't seem like Barrett and Orton click very well in the ring. Maybe it's because Randy Orton also still has problems working as a face in the ring, but there's just something missing in his matches as a face. But the action just seemed slow at times. I know the main focus of the match wasn't suppose to be on the action, but it could have been better.

Now on to the ending. Barrett was upset that Cena wasn't helping him out better, so he shoved Cena. In turn, Cena shoved Barrett right into an Orton RKO. Cena went for the pin, counted two, hesitated slightly, then finally counted to three. To me, this was just the worst possible outcome they could have had. I will give Cena credit for selling the fact that he was now gone from WWE. But I just didn't like it. They've booked themselves into a corner with the outcome. Everyone knows Cena isn't gone for good, which is why the ending was bad. I'm willing to give the story a chance to play out, but they're going to need to pull off a miracle for it to work. What's worse is that they have now made out the Nexus to look like total jobbers. They've essentially lost all of the heat they had as a dominant heel group. They've been around since June and have yet to still have their crowning moment. And now the idea that everything they're doing is part of a bigger plan just looks pathetic, because every big opportunity they've had they lost.

I know Cena has his morales to live up to, but they could have gone in a better direction then having Barrett lose. Have Cena get knocked out, distracted whatever. Barrett wins, Cena can say that he didn't see anything and had to make the three count because it was his job as ref. And essentially, Cena digressed from his morales by shoving Barrett into Orton's RKO. So in a way, CENA COST HIMSELF HIS JOB. If Cena was going to call the match down the middle like he said, he wouldn't have interjected himself into the match. This whole booking of the main event was just a cop out way to get out of the "Free or Fired" stipulation. Sure I would have liked a Cena heel turn, but even I know that's highly unlikely. It was just a bad finish to what started off as a good PPV.

I'd give the show a 6 out of 10. The first four matches were all good, but it went downhill starting with the Smackdown World Title match. It was probably in the top half of PPVs for the year.

Where We Go From Here

Next Month is WWE TLC: Tables Ladders and Chairs. Expect Kane vs Edge in a Ladder Match. I can't see how Wade Barrett would justify getting another title shot, so let's say Randy Orton takes on The Miz in a Tables Match. John Morrison and Sheamus go at it again in a "Chairs are Legal" Match. Lets throw in Big Show vs Alberto del Rio, Daniel Bryan vs William Regal, and Dolph Ziggler vs MVP too.

That's all for today. NFL Review tomorrow, Picks on Wednesday because of the Thanksgiving Holiday.